Sixty-seven years of practice clearly pays off in the big-ute biz. This Suburban-twin Yukon XL could arguably represent the best compromise vehicle for fulfilling all the uses buyers allege they need a jumbo truck for. It's easily the biggest vehicle, combining the greatest passenger volume with the largest cargo capacity. It'll tow 8600 pounds, 1200 more than its lighter Tahoe sibling can manage (or 12,000 pounds in three-quarter-ton trim). And it survived every off-road event we threw at it (almost unscathed) without getting stuck.

Our one-half-ton civilian-grade Yukon XL was fitted with the same 5.3-liter V-8 and five-link coil-spring rear suspension found in the Tahoe (three-quarter-ton variants get rear leaf springs and a 6.0-liter). We also opted for the $850 AutoRide suspension, which adds electronically controlled shocks with load leveling in the rear. It's money well spent. The system varies the damping rate continuously, which helps to limit the bobbing and wallowing one comes to expect in such land freighters. It also minimizes rear-axle hop.

A wheelbase spanning 130 inches does much to smooth out surface imperfections, especially off-road, where the vehicles that initiate most trails invariably have smaller wheelbases. Throw a few hillocks at the XL, however, and that wheel span becomes a liability. On our mogul course, we shaved dirt and grass off the top of each hill with the underbelly, and the trailer hitch carved a nice groove on approach and departure. We managed to shear off the highly vulnerable trailer-hitch wiring-harness mount on the first pass (the same thing happened two years ago in the Arizona canyon). Ford had a better idea, integrating this harness into the structure of the hitch, where it's out of harm's way.

We found the traction from the Firestone Wilderness LEs to be more than adequate, and we preferred the GM approach of employing a limited-slip differential (standard on GMCs, $252 on Chevys) instead of leaning on traction control. In automatic four-wheel-drive mode, we were aware of wheelspin and of the transfer case engaging and releasing the front axle more frequently than in the Expedition, but this never impeded forward progress, and engaging four-wheel drive high prevents it.

Back on the pavement, the big fellah managed to whup the entire field at the drag strip. Credit a well-broken-in 15,000-mile engine for eking out a 0.1-second lead over the 180-pound-lighter, 500-mile-green Tahoe. Zero to 60 mph took just 8.2 seconds, with the quarter passing in 16.5 at 85 mph. On the skidpad and on our favorite handling loop we were able to employ body roll, the limited-slip axle, and ample torque to induce mild, controllable oversteer. This also helped the Yukon XL register a second-best 0.69 g on the skidpad, but its boxcar length, barbell-like rotational inertia, and lack of a stability-control system caused it to flunk the lane change at 52.9 mph.

Inside, we chose the $490 middle-row captain's chairs, which trim seating capacity to seven, but access to and comfort in the third row are greatly improved. Each middle bucket folds and slides way forward for walk-in access to the back. The third-row bench is more comfortable than the Tahoe's split bench, but it's a bear to wrestle out. Then again, there are 10 more cubic feet behind the third row than in the Toyota behind its middle row.

In the end, our testers subtracted a few points from this jack-of-all-SUV-trades for enormity and its negative effect on maneuverability. Your needs, real or imagined, could easily reverse that order.

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